LibGuides: APD: support for your undergraduate dissertation: Where to find books and articles

We have a detailed guide on doing a literature search, or you could watch our videos on literature searching. Whatever approach you decide to take, you'll be looking for books and journal articles along with sources of information on the web. See the tabs below to find the best places to start doing this.

Finding literature and where to look

You can use databases to find articles - it's good to use a variety as they all cover different journals / subject areas.

Here are a few of the relevant databases for Agriculture, Policy & Development - find more in the APD subject guide.

Summon

Searches across all of our online articles - use it to find journal articles online and read the full text immediately. Summon has the great option to restrict your search results to peer reviewed journals - these are the articles of the best quality as they've been reviewed and scrutinized by experts in that field.

Search box below...

Web of Science

Search to find articles on your topic - use the button next to each article to read it if we subscribe - if we don't have access order it on inter-library loan

ScienceDirect

Search here to find the full text of articles and read them immediately.

ScienceDirect [full-text] This link opens in a new window
Access to articles in journals published by Elsevier from 1995 to the present, plus access to older articles in some subject areas. Also gives access to Elsevier e-books we have purchased.
Covering sciences, economic and social science, and some arts and humanities titles.

We also have access to older articles from 1896 onwards in the following subjects:

-agricultural and biological sciences
-economics, econometrics and finance
-environmental science
-social sciences

Help and guidance
ScienceDirect help

Scopus

Similar to Web of Science but does also cover different material - search to find articles on your topic and use the button next to each article to read it if we subscribe - if we don't have access order it on inter-library loan

Scopus This link opens in a new window
Gives references to journal articles, books, conference proceedings and patents in all subjects. Also offers extensive tools to analyse results, and measure impact for articles, journals and authors.
Scopus gives references to peer-reviewed literature in all subject areas. It includes journal articles (including 'in press' items), books, conference proceedings and patents.

It is possible to search for topics, authors (including by ORCID ID), author affiliation and funders.

Extensive analytical tools also allow you to:

-analyse your search results by year, source, author, affiliation, country or territory, document type and subject area
-compare journal impact to help you decide where to publish
-see the citation impact and scholarly community engagement for an article
-analyse the citation trend for any given article, set of results or for a list of author documents
-view an author profile to analyse and track an individual's citation history

Help and guidance
Scopus Quick Reference Guide (PDF)
Tutorial of creating alerts
Scopus learn & support site

And don't forget Google Scholar

Google Scholar This link opens in a new window
Google Scholar is the academic version of Google. It allows you to search for scholarly literature (journal articles, books, patents) from a variety of sources, including academic publishers, professional societies, and online repositories.
It is unclear which publishers are included in Google Scholar, so it shouldn't be used as your only source for a comprehensive literature search. For references to reliable, academic sources search our Summon discovery service or databases covering your subject.

Link to our full-text
You can set your preferences on Google Scholar to show links to full-text articles in all of our e-journals.

1) Click on the three lines on the top left of the home screen.
2) Select 'Settings'.
3) Select 'Library Links' on the left of the screen.
4) In the search box type 'Reading' and select the 'Reading University Library - Full-Text @ Reading' option.
5) Save your settings.

When you do a search, look for a 'Full-Text @ Reading' link to the right of references in your results list. This indicates that we have a subscription which will give you access to the article. Click on this link to access the full-text.

If the 'Full-text @ Reading' link does not appear next to a reference it indicates that it isn't covered by our subscriptions and you probably won't be able to access the article.

If you are off-campus you will need to login to access the articles. You will usually be prompted to login as soon as you click on the link to the article. If this doesn't happen you will need to look for an institutional or Shibboleth login link once you reach the journal's website. For more guidance see Accessing e-journals.

Google Scholar Button
Google have produced a plugin for Chrome, Firefox and Safari which allows you to easily search for and cite articles. Highlight the title of an article in the page you are reading and then click the Scholar button and it will search for the article on Google Scholar in a pop up window. To get a formatted reference for a search result press the quote button next to it and the reference will appear in three different styles.

To make the most of this tool set up the University of Reading as a 'Library Link' using the instructions above.

When you are searching for books remember that you may need to broaden your topic keywords. The topic of your project will be very specific, but books are usually on broader subject areas so try and reflect the broader area in your search.

Enterprise

Search here to find books in the Library. Search box below...

Some books that are relevant to your project may not be held by the Library. To find out what has been published on your topic you may need to look further.

Worldcat

Search here to find books on your topic. They may not be available locally - if not request it on inter-library loan

WorldCat This link opens in a new window
Essentially a vast Library catalogue. Gives references to books, theses, and other published materials in all subjects.
Covers ca.1000 BC to the present.

Our Inter-Library Loans service can get hold of articles, chapters and books not held at Reading from other libraries (usually from the British Library).

For more information see our webpages: here Undergraduates can get up to 5 items in this way, free of charge.